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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Infiltrating Band Practice

Last night I got to chat up a few crazy bastards that like to call themselves The Last Chance Boyz. They're a punk band based out of Michigan City, Indiana. If you're cool enough to go to one of their shows be prepared to get insulted, bloodied in a mosh pit, and possibly get hit in the face with a guitar...(That girl may or may not be missing a molar).

I walked into their band practice thinking that I would be doing a standard sit down interview with them. (What the hell was I thinking?) Instead we sat there drinking beer, doing shots of whiskey, arguing about female genital mutilation, and discussing racial slurs. By the way "cracker" is not derived from the appearance of saltines. (Drunk Tony). But in between the chaotic chit chat and frequent urination they were able to actually answer some questions.

Song Writing Process: With songs titled things like Murder Bitch and Lick My Dick how could I not be curious as to how these lyrics come about. They said usually someone will come up with a riff and then they will move on from there. The lyrics more often than not come last and I found out that Jake lefteye Lawless writes most of these angry and offensive words. He says he shoots for offensive lyrics, just things that most people don't really want to hear. " I try to make them nasty.....but in a poetic way." - Jake Lawless

Pre-show Rituals: I always like to find out what bands do before they play a show. The Last Chance Boyz kind of stumbled upon their pre-show ritual. "We basically just get drunk and play." Of course it helps that they are always the last band to go on at the end of the night so they have plenty of time to carry this out. "We wanted to act like those drunken punk scumbags and it just so happened that we got a group of alcoholics together." - Drunk Tony

Musical Influences: Alcoholism may be one of the only things that The Last Chance Boyz have in common. The members of the band have very different musical backgrounds. Their taste in music bounces from old school punk to metal to classic rock to hardcore. I think that's what makes them work well together though. Everybody brings something different into their chaotic creative process.

Upbringing: As the night progressed and the beer started to flood everyone's brain the conversation took a turn to religion and higher power. I found out that most if not all of them grew up in christian households. However, they all took "a turn for the worst" and became disturbed anarchists and atheists that get off on offending other people by writing poetically nasty lyrics. Yes they are the spawn of Satan and yes all christian parents fear that their music will corrupt their children if it ever reaches their sweet innocent ears.

Future Projects: All you Last Chance Boyz fans out there will be excited to hear that they will be recording this weekend! I had the privilege of hearing a few new things that they have been working on such as a song called Masticator Masturbater and something featuring a...harmonica? They said they've been working on broadening their musical horizons and trying to break the mold of a cliche "punk sound".

They like to share their shows with like minded people so sorry but no straight edge kids or "pop punk pussies" are allowed. If you happen to see a girl sitting down and covering her ears by all means do the band a favor, take her by her arms and legs, and whip her into the center of all the plaid clad, mohawk sporting, mosh pit hogs.

The bottom line is you just need to get out and see these guys! Jake may ask you to "lick his dick", Tony might wear another thong on his head, Dave will probably pee in your drink, Gumba may anally probe you with a drumstick, and Chris can explain why he has BI branded into his leg, but hey by the end of the night you'll be glad you had a few laughs, drank a few beers, and shared a toilet with these guys.